NOSTALGIA FEATURE
This month we delve back into the history of the entertainment industry by remembering a TV series which ran for many years and was watched over by the celebrated producer Barney Colehan. Cast your minds back to The Good Old Days, which was quite literally the name of the show. Mark Ritchie jogs a few memories.

The City Varieties Theatre in Leeds was the venue where flamboyant and articulate actor Leonard Sachs played the role of the Old Time Music Hall Chairman. His introductions sounded like a thesaurus of hyperbole, combined with completely over the top exhortations and the result was pure magic. The audiences completed the picture by dressing appropriately in late Victorian or Edwardian garb and the orchestra was ensconced in the pit.
Shows were often kicked off by members of The Players Theatre company and there was always a top of the bill attraction. Quite recently it was revealed that quite scandalously, a substantial number of the over 200 episode show recordings had been wiped or deleted.
The City Varieties continues to go from strength to strength as a touring venue receiving house for bands and comedians. On one recent visit to this stunningly beautiful and atmospheric auditorium I saw a splendid show featuring that great musician entertainer and variety supporter Andy Eastwood, who has in my view done more than most to keep variety entertainment relevant in the 21st century.
As was the case with the great spectacle that was wrestling on TV, as soon as The Good Old Days was cancelled in 1983 after 31 seasons spanning almost 30-years, the knock-on detrimental effect for variety show producers was almost immediately noticeable.
Some have wondered if shows like The Good Old Days could return to our TV screens. I would suggest that once the likes of David Bell, Royston Mayo and a few others were no longer involved in television, there really was no-one around with the right background or expertise to make such a show happen. Sadly, in my view, that remains the case today and all we are left with are the asinine and anodyne reality TV offerings and other such twitty ‘shows’ made to attract the limited attention span of the young folks.
On the final Christmas show edition in 1983 the great Danny La Rue topped the bill. Over three decades stars from Les Dawson and Ken Dodd to Alan Randall and Roy Hudd and countless others steeped in the creed of variety were show headliners. As the audience and the whole company joined together in song to perform the old music hall ditty Down at the Old Bull and Bush for the final time, it truly was the end of an era. The Good Old Days, which celebrated and kept alive the memory of another time, staged in such a great venue was still attracting huge viewing figures before the bewildering decision to axe the show was made by somebody or other.